The Trump administration may pursue a streamlined minerals deal with Ukraine to expedite an agreement, with detailed terms—such as U.S. ownership of Ukraine’s vast resources—to be negotiated later, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
This follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s rejection of a detailed proposal from the Trump administration last week that would have seen Washington receiving 50% of Ukraine’s critical minerals, which include graphite, uranium, titanium and lithium, the latter a key component in electric car batteries.
Time-Taking Deal
That episode made clear that reaching a full deal will take time, the sources said. But U.S. President Donald Trump wants a pact with Ukraine in place before potentially authorising more U.S. military support for Kyiv or moving ahead with a bid to broker formal peace talks between Ukraine and Russia to end the three-year-old war, which was triggered by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
Trump’s Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg is in Kyiv this week to discuss the parameters of a revised pact and what Ukraine needs in return for signing. Zelenskyy said he would meet with Kellogg on Thursday “and it is crucial for us that this meeting – and overall cooperation with America – be constructive.”
When asked if U.S. officials would continue to pursue a deal, a Trump adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about Zelenskyy: “Absolutely, we need to get this guy back to reality.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Push Continues Amid Rift
The push for a deal continues despite a widening rift between Trump and Zelenskyy.
Trump denounced his Ukrainian counterpart as “a dictator without elections” on Wednesday after Zelenskyy said Trump was trapped in a Russian disinformation bubble, a response to the U.S. president suggesting Ukraine started the war.
The United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine in the past three years, and Trump has said U.S. investment in Ukrainian minerals could ensure “that we’re going to in some form get this money back.” He is pushing for Kyiv to grant the U.S. mineral concessions worth $500 billion in recognition of Washington’s aid.
The sources said it is important to Trump that he can signal publicly to the American people that the U.S. is recouping the aid.
Less ‘Rapacious’
It’s unclear the extent to which the original U.S. proposal was framed as compensation for past weapons shipments or future instalments. But Zelenskyy said it focused too heavily on U.S. interests and lacked security guarantees for Kyiv.
“I can’t sell our country,” he told reporters Wednesday.
A third source familiar with the matter said Ukraine is willing to make a deal with the Trump administration. Another source also said Kyiv was ready to make a deal but that it must not look as “rapacious” as the arrangement the U.S. first proposed.
Details of the U.S. discussions about a potential mineral deal, including who inside the administration helped draft the original proposal, are unknown.
Revised Approach
The revised approach is just one of several being discussed at the White House on how to clinch a deal with Kyiv in the coming weeks, an unusually quick timeline for a complex sector where deals usually involve private companies and state entities, not governments.
Trump on Wednesday repeated his frustration that most U.S. aid was granted while Europe, he said, primarily made loans. “While the United States gets nothing back, so they get their money back,” he said.
He also criticised Zelenskyy’s rejection of the 50-50 split, characterising it as breaching an accord without any evidence Kyiv had actually agreed to it. “And we had a deal based on rare earth and things, but they broke that deal… they broke it two days ago,” Trump said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
